Journalism

Newspaper circulation is down sharply, and so is employment in the newspaper industry. Financial cutbacks have led to the shutdown of nearly 1,800 daily and weekly newspapers since 2004. Two developments this week brought the issue into further focus. Facebook, whose success has contributed to the news business’ decline, announced Tuesday it would invest $300 million over three years in news initiatives with an emphasis in local coverage. More ominously, the hedge fund-backed Digital First Media, known for sharp cost-cutting strategies, bid to buy Gannett Co. , the publisher of USA Today and several daily newspapers across the country.

The New York Times is pushing further into voice products for smart speakers. On Friday, the company announced that it’s launching a weekday flash news briefing called The New York Times Briefing for Alexa-enabled devices (hosted by Michael Barbaro, who is a busy man). It’s also debuting a weekly interactive news quiz from The Daily’s producers.

The Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter,” reported Monday that MNG, Enterprises, better known as Digital First Media, which is backed by a hedge fund, holds 7.5%  of Gannett’s stock and has been rebuffed repeatedly by the company when it has approached it about a sale. Digital First plans to offer to buy Gannett for $12 per share, nearly a quarter above its closing share price Friday of $9.75.

The network announced the agreement Friday night after more than two months of negotiations, giving no details. The former Fox News Channel transplant has been off the air since late October after suggesting that it was OK for white people to wear blackface on Halloween.

Andrew Heyward: “As a loyal viewer (and alumnus) of WCBS-TV in New York, I admit I find the station’s promotional tagline — “Expect More” — unintentionally ambiguous, as in “Frankly, I expected more.” But all that’s changed now that CBS has rolled out the station’s 24/7 live streaming service, CBSN New York, with other CBS markets to follow. Who could possibly expect (or ask for) more than round-the-clock live breaking news, local coverage and weather, streamed on the station’s website and available on Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV and CBS mobile apps?”

At the end of a chaotic day punctuated by a failed meeting between President Trump and Democratic leaders intended to end the partial government shutdown, the president took to Twitter late Wednesday night to air his well-worn grievances about a familiar adversary — the media. In a series of tweets and retweets, Trump once again voiced disdain for the ““Mainstream Media,” specifically naming NBC and MSNBC as the source of his ire.